Levante 2-5 Coventry City
Right. Here we go. It’s the first game after the negotiations. I’ve picked up some more players to ‘cushion’ my squad. I think I’ve got the hang of PES2008 now. No more excuses. Promotion here I come.
This was a great game—truly memorable for so many reasons and, I think, the turning-point for me and the PSP/PS2 version of PES2008.
I was a Podolski goal up and cruising when the CPU’s God Mode kicked in. Levante got the ball and kept it until they scored to make it 1-1. Oh well, I thought. At least now I’ll be able to get the ball back. But no: they kept it again, until they scored again. 2-1 to them. For the love of… Calm blue ocean. Calm blue ocean. Breathe.
I started to keep it at the back and knock it around a bit. This is the golden rule, I hear, when you think the CPU is cheating or trying to cheat. Just keep the ball. Pass it around. Pass it back constantly if you have to. Don’t let the CPU torment you.
It paid off before half time. A corner out on the left rebounded to Camacho, who provided a delightful side-footed finish:
Camacho’s most significant goal for me yet. It got me back into the game at 2-2.
Half time came and went. I scored another three goals in the second half—two of them from Podolski, to complete his hat trick. Both were headers from Roberto Carlos crosses. The young Brazilian is already playing like a legend.
All of which lifts me up to the heady heights of fourth place. I’m only 3 points off second place and one of those lovely promotion spots. Alas, my goal difference remains poor. That 8-1 hammering I took at the start of the season is taking its toll, despite a couple of big wins of my own.
But if I keep playing well—and I am playing well, now; I think I finally get what the PSP/PS2 version of PES2008 is all about—then I’ll not only make up the goal difference, but get enough points on the board for it probably not to matter.